Since 2006, Pamela has released four albums on Savant/ High Note Records, the newest of which is Sweet And Saxy, a collaboration with the legendary tenor saxophonist and producer Houston Person. Pamela and Houston have enjoyed a special musical relationship: he appeared as a guest soloist on her two previous CDs, Your Eyes and Magnet, and they've also worked together in concert. Sweet And Saxy is a glorious display of the dynamic synergy created by the emerging singer and the veteran horn man. Pamela, Houston, and pianist John di Martino created the arrangements together, and even the title Sweet And Saxy is a collaboration by Pamela and Houston.
Pamela and Houston celebrated the CD's release with a special performance at New York's Jazz Standard that resulted in two completely sold-out shows, as well as special appearances at J&R Music World (where the new album topped the store's sales charts) and Barnes and Noble. Further performances in support of the album are scheduled for the Metropolitan Room in Chelsea in Manhattan and Chris' Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia (both in January; see Pamelaluss.com for details). Sweet And Saxy has been well received nationally and internationally, including Japan. “Everything about Pamela is first-rate, be it her solid chops, well-endowed voice, or skillful ballad delivery,” as the Japanese magazine Jazz Yell raves, “The magical interaction between the warm sound of Person's tenor sax and Luss's expressive singing suggests the birth of a new, splendid partnership.”
From a very early age, Pamela knew that she wanted to be a singer. “My mom tells me that when I was really young, I would imitate the sound of the hair blow dryer, and I could sing back the tones of a busy signal on the telephone.” Pamela's exceptional pitch was apparent early on and remains strong today as one of the identifying features of a uniquely smooth voice with unusual fullness and purity of tone.
Growing up in Connecticut, Chicago, & Manhattan, Pamela studied music and took voice lessons. She learned to love jazz and The Great American Songbook thanks to her father, a talented avocational pianist who spent hours illustrating to her what makes the great songs and the great singers great. She majored in music at New York University.
Pamela first emerged as a professional singer with long-running gigs at several prominent New York venues, including Mannahatta and the Bruno Jamais Restaurant Club. She also began performing at private functions, most notably at a film premiere party thrown by the actor and filmmaker Matthew Modine.
Early in her career, Pamela was asked to perform at several special annual events at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. It was there that she was heard by the well-known saxophonist and bandleader Vincent Herring. Herring offered to produce her first album, There's Something About You I Don't Know. With accompaniments that vary between a big band, a string orchestra, and a small group, Pamela sings with an all-star line-up, including Mulgrew Miller, Tom Harrell, Jeremy Pelt, Steve Turre, Russell Malone, Greg Hutchinson, and Richie Goods. There's Something About You I Don't Know was released by Savant/HighNote Records to enthusiastic reviews in February of 2006. As Stephen Latessa of All About Jazz opined, “There is a palpable richness and sense of luxury in Pamela Luss’s debut album.”
Pamela Luss has enjoyed successful engagements in nearly every major night club in New York, drawing capacity crowds to The Jazz Standard, Feinstein’s at The Regency, Birdland (in Times Square), Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola (at Jazz at Lincoln Center), The Iridium, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, Enzo’s, and many other venues. Pamela is perhaps the only singer to have appeared at both the first annual Jazz Improv Convention and the long-running Mabel Mercer Foundation cabaret convention at Rose Hall, which illustrates her acceptance in the worlds of both jazz and cabaret.
In 2007, High Note Records released Your Eyes, Pamela’s second album, and her first collaboration with pianist and musical director John diMartino, special guest Houston Person, and producer Todd Barkan. Scott Yanow wrote in The All Music Guide, “…Ms. Luss shows that she is a superior jazz singer, whether being sensual on ‘Baby Don't You Quit Now,’ finding surprising life in a faster-than-usual ‘Over the Rainbow,’ or swinging on ‘Our Day Will Come.’”
Your Eyes immediately made it to number three out of one hundred on Amazon.com's vocal jazz Bestselling new & future releases, and shot to number eight on the iTunes jazz chart in France. Christopher Loudon of Jazz Times wrote that hers was “quite possibly the finest-to-date interpretation of Alan and Marilyn Bergman's 'How Do You Keep The Music Playing?' (on Your Eyes) and added “She knows how to break [your heart] with excruciating tenderness.”
On Labor Day, 2007, Pamela Luss was asked to perform as part of a true American Cultural Institution, the annual telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, hosted by the legendary Jerry Lewis. The video clip of this number, her exciting, high-speed re- imagining of the iconic standard “Over The Rainbow,” has since been viewed thousands of times on YouTube. Jerry Lewis himself, no minor judge of talent, has described Pamela as “a wonderful singer.”
Pamela made her third album, Magnet in 2008. Magnet reached #5 on Barnes and Noble Bestselling Standards Albums and #6 on their Bestselling Vocal Jazz Albums. It also received heavy airplay, reaching #39 on the JazzWeek Jazz Radio Chart and placed in the top Jazz 50 iTunes Store sales. Magnet was also given stellar reviews, such as that of syndicated columnist Ric Bang, who wrote (in The Davis Enterprise), “Her voice is mellow and excellent, her phrasing exquisite. She can rivet your attention with simple oldies like ‘Day by Day,’ ‘Moon River,’ or ‘Quiet Nights,’ and then grab you by the throat with ‘For All We Know’ and ‘Bewitched.’ You know she's singing them for your ears alone. Longtime music fans, who miss hearing those great vocalists of years past, need not despair; this lady more than fills the need for such music.”
“Ms. Luss shows that she is a superior jazz singer, whether being sensual on ‘Baby Don't You Quit Now,’ finding surprising life in a faster-than-usual ‘Over the Rainbow,’ or swinging on ‘Our Day Will Come’” writes Scott Yanow in The All Music Guide. Check out Pamela live and hear why Mr. Yanow declared that Pamela creates “An indescribable magic.”
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Pamela Luss Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The music playing?
How do you make it last
How do keep
The song from fading
Too fast
How do you lose yourself
And never lose your way
How do you not run
Out of new things
To say
And since you know
We're always changing
How can it be the same
And tell me how
Year after year
You're sure your heart
Will fall apart
Each time
You hear her name
I know the way
I feel for you
Is now or never
The more
I love the more
There I'm afraid
That in yours eyes
I may not see forever
Forever
If we can be
The best of lovers
Yet be the best of friends
If we can try with every day
To make it better as it goes
With any luck than I suppose
The music never ends
The lyrics of Pamela Luss's song How Do You Keep the Music Playing? evoke a sense of wonder and introspection. The song is a contemplation on the nature of love and how it endures over time. The artist poses a series of questions about how to keep love alive, using the metaphor of music to characterize the emotional connections between people.
The opening lines "How do you keep the music playing? How do you make it last? How do you keep the song from fading too fast?" express the fear of losing the magic of love and the desire to keep it vibrant and alive. The following lines "How do you lose yourself to someone and never lose your way? How do you not run out of new things to say?" reflect the writer's desire to fully connect and maintain the excitement and freshness of love.
As the song progresses, the artist highlights the inevitability of change and the challenges it poses to sustaining love. The lyrics "And since you know we're always changing, how can it be the same? And tell me how year after year, you're sure your heart will fall apart each time you hear her name?" acknowledge the reality that people are not static and that maintaining deep connections over time requires effort and resilience. However, the song concludes on an optimistic note, with the belief that love can endure and evolve, as long as one is open to growth and improvement. "If we can be the best of lovers, and be the best of friends, if we can try with every day, to make it better as it goes, with any luck than I suppose, the music never ends"
Line by Line Meaning
How do you keep
What is the secret to maintaining
The music playing?
a lasting and vibrant love?
How do you make it last
How do you ensure it never fades
How do keep
How do you prevent
The song from fading
the love from getting stale
Too fast
too soon
How do you lose yourself
How can you completely give yourself
To someone
to another person
And never lose your way
while maintaining your sense of self
How do you not run
How do you avoid
Out of new things
a lack of new experiences or topics
To say
to talk about
And since you know
Considering the fact that
We're always changing
people are constantly changing
How can it be the same
How can love remain constant
And tell me how
How can you explain
Year after year
as time passes
You're sure your heart
you are confident that your love
Will fall apart
will not break down
Each time
whenever
You hear her name
you are reminded of her
I know the way
I understand
I feel for you
my love for you
Is now or never
must be acted upon immediately
The more
The greater
I love the more
I love you more each day
There I'm afraid
I have a fear
That in yours eyes
That in your eyes
I may not see forever
I may not see a future with you
If we can be
If we can try to become
The best of lovers
the most affectionate of partners
Yet be the best of friends
while simultaneously being good friends
If we can try with every day
If we can make an effort each day
To make it better as it goes
to continuously improve what we have
With any luck than I suppose
Hopefully, it will lead to a lasting love
The music never ends
our love will never fade away completely
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: MICHEL JEAN LEGRAND, ALAN BERGMAN, MARILYN BERGMAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind